RoundtableUC&C4 Jan 2017 · 1 min read

CPaaS Providers - What is it? And who are the Industry Leaders?

CPaaS stands for Communications Platform-as-a-Service, how does it compare to UCaaS? Who's leading the way

CPaaS stands for Communications Platform-as-a-Service, it's the latest term in cloud technology which takes things one step further in cloud communications.

CPaaS brings together:

Voice
Video
WebRTC
Screen Sharing
Team Collaboration
Instant Messaging
SMS Messaging
Conferencing

Just like PaaS 'platform as a service' means to offer a software developer a platform for development in the cloud, CPaaS offers organisations and software developers a cloud-based communications platform with open APIs so they can really innovate and achieve tight integration between systems and platforms such as CRM and Web sites.

Phone systems have always offered APIs to developers but they have been notoriously challenging to work with due to development time and training required. In addition, traditional telecoms resellers have had very little or no software development experience to help their clients.

However, with CPaaS, we'd hope that cloud communication vendors like Cisco and Microsoft will lead the way with a more 'open' and standardised way of working, making it easier for end-users and resellers to get involved.

CPaaS versus UCaaS

Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) is the chosen technology for most companies that require an 'off-the-shelf' phone system in the cloud. Off the shelf is the keyword here.

CPaaS is just like UCaaS however, CPaaS is typically dedicated (not multi-tenanted) and

Correct me if I'm wrong but most UCaaS providers presently do not offer rich APIs and an open architecture for software developers to get a hold of. Or is CPaaS really the new name for UCaaS?